h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Sho: You do -- ironing??

nah!! I leave it for -hubs
I get the board out, and the iron and all the stuff. Then I put on a DVD, then I lean on the board and watch. Possibly I fold a t-shirt or two, or even iron a blouse, but I always pause the film when I do.

at the very idea of me doing something domesticated!!!

<>
That's cute. A bit y but cute...

I've been wondering about the magic/light effects myself, but not sure what I think. I accept that they've chosen to have very little visual magic in the film, as it only rarely works very well. The duel of Gandalf and Saruman, for example, could have been done very differently, but I think their solution works ok there.
The light effects seem rather weak, I agree, but I can't come up with a better solution off the top of my head. Same thing goes for The Eye, or more specifically, the ray of light used to show where The Eye is looking. That seemed rather weak, as well, but I'm not sure how you'd might do it more convincing...


>>And apart from Gandalf's weedy light show effect, I loved that bit when he rode out then swerved round to lead the riders back to Minas Tirith. It looked fantastic.

I know it's nitpicking, but one thing bugged me about that scene... Why on (Middle-)Earth does he take Pippin with him? Seemed quite a mystery to me, I mean, surely there must be some reason for it?


Asmodai, I think we're missing each others points here. When I initially wrote "stupid warg attack", I didn't mean that as "tactically stupid" but rather "stupid scriptwriting", though I can see that I wasn't expressing myself very clearly. You then wrote something to the effect that those scenes were justifiable, because it showed that the Enemy used advanced tactics, which I have difficulties accepting. Not that Saruman has a concept of tactics, but that that's what is being conveyed in those scenes.
On a different yet related note, I did like the difference between the White Hands attack on Helms Deep, and the Red Eyes on Minas Tirith. Shows Saruman as the poor imitation of Sauron he is...


Oh and Gradient, I liked the story, shows there are actually people out there with a sadder life than me



cheers
~Bistro

Well, I wouldn't say that that warg attack showed advanced tactic. Like every attack - be it by Saruman or by Sauron - the tactic is simple but effectic - let's outnumber them!
Although in case of Sauron you'd have to add "let's be bigger". The only thing which really seemed to be more advanced on Sauron's side are the weapons used on Gondor.

Methos

Ah, but I think there is a fundamental difference between Sauron and Saruman, although of course it's the similarities that are most striking.
Sauron is an oldfashioned bad guy, uses magic, fear, and huge amounts of lowly orcs along with a variety of other monsters as his main weapons.
Saruman is more "modern" in his approach. His mind focuses on mechanics. He's a scientist, experiments with selective breeding, uses gunpowder, etc. But he's locked in his narrow view of the world as being one of wheels and springs and traps, basically one that can be reduced to numbers and equations. That's why he's not prepared for illogical reactions, such as Nature fighting back...


cheers
~Bistro

But if Sauron were more 'old-fashioned' as you put it, why is the attack on Gondor technically the most advanced one? - in the movies, I mean.

Methos

F63419?thread=120392&skip=1364

California-- really got to you, didn't he?

But how else could they have dragged in young men, kicking and screaming, to see a -book turned into a film? Not to mention the young women.

I mean,getting us old ladies to go to see the film was never going to be a problem, was it?

Actually I loved the surfing scene; lightest of relief in a terrifying battle.
All battles are remembered (I suppose) for feats never seen, only recounted later.
And yes, we old ladies . . .

The light SFX (well, comparatively) mean that the film stays within the bounds of the book and also doesn't get written off as a lightshow. One of the problems that decent genre films face is that they spend a lot of time on the special effects and, because these are costly, spend comparatively little of the budget on a decent script and cast.

PJ had a task and a half to adapt the occasionally difficult prose style that Tolkien chose to use; it didn't always work and you can tell when a character utters a Tolkien line and when the line was added. 'Let's hunt some Orc' being one of the offenders... However, the movie is spectacle and character. We've seen, with Phantom Menace, what happens when a director tries to let CGI and battles carry a movie: it suffers. I think that the SFX strike a good balance, and the fact that Gandalf doesn't erupt in arcane crackly energy whenever the occasion demands allows us to concentrate on what he actually says and does.

Perhaps a point is being made too - maybe it only takes a little light to drive back the darkness?

Well, I have to say I didn't like the surfing down the steps part that much. But okay, he was faster that way.

That stupid stunt to get on that horse - just embarassing. It would have been a lot faster to simply jump on that horse.

The part with the olifant (please don't kill me if I messed up that word) - it was kind of cool, but cgi-wise not that well done. And the surfing down bit? Why does Legolas get all that poor cgi?

Methos

Recumbantman: "we" old ladies, as in old ladies like me; not the old ladies of this thread... although we could (er, actually I think it's just me) make you an honorary member if you like.

I had less problems with the getting on the horse scene, since I expect the elves to be more than a little agile, than I do with the fact that filmLegolas uses a saddle.

I like the way that filmGandalf is like novelGandalf, in that he is not obviously a magical-magician, rather than someone who can - when required - call on deeper forces. The fight between him and Saruman was nicely understated.

What is worring me right now, as we're discussing it on another board is this: what happened to the horses in the film ROTK? (when they do their thing outside the black gate.)

I would assume they'd be left with the baggage train. I know you dont see it or anything, but horses not in use are left with a baggage train at the back of the army.

Well, I'd assume so.

But even allowing for that: one minute they're all on horse back, the next I'm agog at the way Aragorn does that running into battle thing. Again.

The fundamental difficulty here seems to me that TLOTR is fundamentally a literary work and one rooted in Tolkiens own WW I experiences in the trenches. Trying to turn that into a cinematic extravagansa is frought with difficulties. The sheer scale of the man's imagination dwarfs even the SFX capabilities of hollywoods supercomputers. If you then try to compress what you can reproduce into a three hour film you will inevitably end up with all manner of inconsistancies, the Barrels behind Frodo and Sam when they are captured by Faramir for instance, they come and go like nobodys business. The Extended versions of the films are in my opinion much better and I wonder if the director (who's name I forget for the moment) will do a george Lucas and upgrade them in later years when there is a tidy buck to be made on a re-release.

He probibly will do in a few decades and lets hope he does. Theres so much thats been cut, theres probibly three hours of outtakes, not to mention other deleted sceens.
To give him the credit hes due though i dont see it happening for at least twenty - thirty years. Hes spent seven years of his life making lotr, i dont think hes going to do what lucas has done and tie himself too it.

I hope he doesn't. I'm already not looking forward to the boxed set of the 3 films coming out... I know I'll want it, but justifying buying it when I'll already have the 3 extended editions will be difficult.

I just watched TTT and didn't notice disappearing barrels. Where were they? As far as I could tell, Sam & Frodo were sitting next to barrels when they were talking, but when they were with Faramir, and he was doing the "chance for Captain Faramir to show his quality" speech, they had moved away from the barrels.

Or did I miss something?

"I hope he doesn't. I'm already not looking forward to the boxed set of the 3 films coming out... I know I'll want it, but justifying buying it when I'll already have the 3 extended editions will be difficult."

I know the feeling, but I couldn't possibly wait for that super box. I just hope, that I make an obscene amount of money by the time that super box comes out.

And speakin gof outtakes - I'd love to have some bloopers on the next dvd set...

Methos

Have we already had the Mortensen kissing Bernard Hill on the nose thing? I want to see that.